Trying to figure out how we are going to juggle the gas money and stuff has been a challenge. You see our 16 year old son, River, is driving now and he has volunteered to drive Isaiah to practice each day, and then, most of the time, Den picks him up when he gets off from work. This has been a life saver for me. I still have to go a couple of times a week, but overall I don't have to load up the other boys to run down the mountain to get him each and every day. I am so thankful for this, but this leads us to another issue, how to compensate River for gas.

We decided to give the older boys $20.00 a week. Now this may seem like nothing to some, but this is the number that we have established for our family. This $20.00 is for fun, but is also for necessities that come up. That gives them $80.00 to budget with during the month. We are trying to instill the value of a dollar to the boys, but this is a challenge. I keep hearing the complaint, "Wow Mom, everything is so expensive." I laugh and whole heartedly agree. I am hoping that by them having their own money to be responsible for that they will understand wants from needs. We have been giving River an additional $20.00 a week for driving Isaiah down to practice. This is to be put into the gas tank only. Plus, I should mention that River works with Den and gets paid, although once school starts in at this house that will wind down quite a bit. Schoolwork comes first.

The funny thing is that the boys all went to town to watch a movie last night, and now River has very little gas left for the day. He doesn't get paid again, by me, until tomorrow so he has to make the gas strrrreeettcchh today. So he has to sit down there at practice and wait for Isaiah to finish, and he doesn't get to go anywhere else. I felt a little sorry for him, but I stuck to my guns and said that he had to wait until tomorrow. Part of budgeting their money is figuring out the gas element too. We are still learning how to manage it all, and we are learning how far a dollar will get you, and that isn't far!!!

I am always open to better suggestions.....